1987 - A Momentary Lapse of Reason

Ordering Information
Release date: September 8th, 1987

After the departure of Waters in 1985 and a tense period of well-published wrangling over rights to the group name, Gilmour began to put together a new Pink Floyd album in 1987 using the American producer of The Wall, Bob Ezrin, and working on songs with a squad of assistants, including Phil Manzanera. Like its predecessor, A Momentary Lapse Of Reason eventually turned out to be a solo album in all but name.

David Gilmour: "Both Nick and Rick were catatonic in terms of their playing ability at the beginning. Neither of them played on this at all really. In my view, they'd been destroyed by Roger. Nick played a few tom-toms on one track, but for the rest I had to get in other drummers. Rick played some tiny little parts. For a lot of it, I played the keyboards and pretended it was him. The record was basically made by me, and other people and God knows what. I didn't think it was the best Pink Floyd album ever made, but I gave it the best damn shot I could."

Nick Mason: "Dave was under a lot of pressure to come up with songs and he looked for help where he could find it. It was fun recording on the boat (Gilmour's floating studio at Hampton-on-Thames) but then we went to America and hired all these sessions musicians who could knock things off quickly. At the time it seemed like a reasonable route to go but that was quite alarming for me."

Rick Wright: "I wasn't a member of the band. By now they didn't know me. We hadn't played together for years. I was paid a wage on the sessions. I did get royalties on the album. Not as many as Dave and Nick though."

Tracks:

• Signs of Life (Gilmour, Ezrin)
  
  [04:24] Vocals by Gilmour.
• Learning to Fly (Gilmour, Moore, Ezrin, Carin)
  
  [04:52] Vocals by Gilmour.
• The Dogs of War (Gilmour, Moore)
  
  [06:05] Vocals by Gilmour.
• One Slip (Gilmour, Manzanera)
  
  [05:07] Vocals by Gilmour.
• On The Turning Away (Gilmour, Moore)
  
  [05:39] Vocals by Gilmour.
• a. Yet Another Movie (Gilmour, Leonard)
  
  [below] Vocals by Gilmour.
• b. Round and Around (Gilmour)
  
  [07:25] Instrumental.
• A New Machine part.1 (Gilmour)
  
  [01:46] Vocals by Gilmour.
• Terminal Frost (Gilmour)
  
  [06:17] Instrumental.
• A New Machine part.2 (Gilmour)
  
  [00:36] Vocals by Gilmour.
• Sorrow (Gilmour)
  
  [08:46] Vocals by Gilmour and Wright.

Total Playing Time: 50'57

Musicians Featured:

• David Gilmour: Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards and Sequencers
• Nick Mason: Electric and Acoustic Drums, Sound Effects
• Rick Wright: Piano, Vocals, Kurzweil, Hammond Organ
• Bob Ezrin: Keyboards, Percussion and Sequencers
• Tony Levin: Bass Guitar, Stick
• Jim Keltner: Drums
• Steve Forman: Percussion
• Jon Carin: Keyboards
• Tom Scott: Alto and Soprano Saxophone
• Scott Page: Tenor Saxophone
• Carmine Appice: Drums
• Pat Leonard: Synthesizers
• Bill Payne: Hammond Organ
• Michael Landau: Guitar
• John Halliwell: Saxophone
• Backing Vocals: Darlene Koldenhaven, Carmen Twillie, Phyllis St.James and Donnie Gerrard